Page 50 of Firedrake Betrayal
The witch’s house.
I’m feet from the edge of the grass, yet my wolf is reluctant to move closer. No bad smells warn of danger, but something troubles me enough not to want to take another step.
As I ponder my strange response to an invisible threat, the back door swings open and Meliah steps outside.
She’s changed her outfit from the floral green dress she wore before. Now, she’s in the sort of long, black velvet skirt I can easily imagine a witch wearing, and which would probably have Patten running in the other direction.
Pre-Jade and pre-curse, that hot pink tank top would have had Patten running toward her.
Her smile is bright, but relieved. She hadn’t known who was out here before she came to investigate. It’s only when she pulls her right hand out of her pocket that I realize I must have come dangerously close to having her fling a spell—worse, a curse—at me.
“It’s a good thing you stopped there.” She walks toward me, nodding at the shrub in front of me. The one I hadn’t wanted to approach. “Guarding stones. They pack a powerful punch. I have them surrounding the entire house, though they have a tendency to snap back on me as well, but that’s the point. They warn me and give me a chance to prepare for an attack.”
She said Brennan would be safe here, but I hadn’t known exactly what she meant or thought too closely about how she intended to make Brennan safe. I’d been too concerned with finding Jade. It’s not something I’m happy about admitting, but I had my priorities. I was just quieter about admitting it than Patten was.
I consider shifting to ask her about those guarding stones when a faint rustle and a soft groan of pain drift from the house.
Meliah glances over her shoulder. “I should check on him.” She turns to go inside, then stops and peers back at me. “I know you don’t trust me, but I don’t mean him any harm.” She flashes me a grin. “Don’t worry, my interest in him is not purely sexual, despite what your friends think.”
She overheard our conversation.
How could she havenotoverheard when Patten hadn’t even tried to speak quietly?
Then I catch something else. Her interest in him is not purely sexual. What doesthatmean?
My wolf rumbles at me, reminding me we were out here for a reason.
To run.
I turn away from the witch’s house to continue my unsatisfactory run as Meliah closes the door behind her.
Before returning to the house, I lift my eyes to the mountains in the distance.
I hadn’t thought a human could or would cause so much problems. My father warned some humans were dangerous enough to be a threat, but deep in the Florida everglades, it was easy to view those stories as just that. Stories.
Now I know better. I’m tempted to call him and ask about what else he knows of collectors. A call from him would mean admitting that we broke the curse tying me to Chicago and there was no reason not to return home.
There was a reason I left, and it’s still the biggest reason I don’t want to go back.
I never believed I would find the happiness I needed there. So I left. I’m as certain of that now as I was when I left over ten years ago.
We underestimated Atticus when we rescued Dominik, and we can’t afford to do it again.
We might not survive it.
14
JADE
It’s the middle of the night and I can’t sleep.
We’ve spread ourselves around the house. I’m in one bedroom, a turquoise room with a gold bed and mustard drapes. Shep is in another. Isaiah muttered something about wanting to check out the attic and wandered off. Patten claimed the last room the moment it looked like Dominik was about to.
I don’t know where Dominik is. Mostly because I don’t care to wonder.
Dominik bonded us together, and my mind keeps gnawing at what that actually means. I don’t feel any different, but a permanent bond has todosomething to you. Right?
I don’t like him and I don’t trust him. What if, despite all that, I start wanting him anyway? And surely it’s only a matter of time before pregnancy hormones kick in and I start thinking that maybe the father of my child isn’tthatbad.
